Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Selanne, Savard, Sundin, Forsberg, Fleury, Kurri, Housley, Palffy, Salming and Stastny are some of the NHL greats who have worn the JOFA emblem proudly upon their foreheads during some of the highest scoring and most important seasons and careers in NHL history. This blog discusses the JOFA helmet, the different models, who men who wore them, their significance, where to buy and sell them, how to fix and modify them, and why they are icons of hockey excellence.

May 5, 2011

The JOFA 290 / 298

After discussing Denis Savard's JOFA 266 helmet, I found it appropriate to follow up with an overview of the JOFA 290. This helmet emerged after the JOFA 280, and was worn nearly exclusively by European players. You may tell from the photos, the JOFA 290 was a popular choice amongst international competition, especially Scandinavian teams, during the early 1990's.

Notice above that Selanne's helmet has a different front piece than that of his famous JOFA 366 (JOFA 390 without ear protection), where the JOFA 290 has an "Armadillo" pattern on his forehead rather than the styled intakes of the later produced JOFA 366/390.

Here we have the JOFA 290 being worn by Niklas Lidstrom playing for Team Sweden, and Mats Sundin playing for Djurgårdens IF(black and white), early in their careers around 1990-92.

The visor that Selanne, Lidstrom, and Sundin are using is the JOFA 995 visor. As I made note of this before, the JOFA 995 is the only visor that fits the JOFA 290-390 helmets without modification including the addition of custom mounting points.

The blue JOFA 290 helmet above is outfitted with a JOFA 267 cage, which was specifically designed for goaltenders. This image also reveals the sizing specifications, 290SR 6-3/4 - 7-3/8, which is identical to that of the JOFA 390 helmet.

Tommy Soderstrom, one of the finest goaltenders to come out of Sweden, wore this JOFA 298/267 combo during most of his career. Notice the photo of him playing for the Flyers looks as though he has stretched the cage out at the sides. I have not yet found a skater that has worn the JOFA 298 in the NHL; it seems that, given the choice, the pros preferred the JOFA 366 and 390 helmets.

Above is a Tommy Soderstrom's JOFA 298 with a JOFA 275 cage that he wore while playing with the Philadelphia Flyers. I will assume this particular helmet was worn early in his career considering his use of the JOFA 267 cage later on.

Today, the JOFA 290 is still being sold, well kinda. Reebok manufactures a junior helmet sharing styling traits with the JOFA 290, sold in Europe as the Reebok 1K. Notice that the foam padding looks like styrene with mesh padding adhered to it, not the same as JOFA's traditional dual density, soft foam padding found in nearly all their helmets.

I just found this site and I love it. I have been modifying 390's for a couple years now and I am thinking of doing a 290. I am just worried about regretting it afterwards. I can find tons of 390's but a great condition 290 is a bit more rare.

So... I just bought the Söderström helmet with the streatched cage in Umeå. The wide cage is not Jofa's, it's a Torspo product (Swedish back in the days right?). Mail me if you want more info and pictures of it: thomas.sunhede AT gmail.